Dow Down Today, Cramer is Still Thrilled

Is Cramer worried about the Dow’s downward move Monday? Quite the contrary... he’s thrilled. In Cramer’s opinion, any bull market with legs will have shallow pullbacks like the one we experienced. With all the bad news surrounding the country’s banks, the market should have been down big, but instead it recorded only modest losses.

But Cramer’s positive outlook on the market wasn’t reciprocated, and he felt it in the amount of hate mail he received over the weekend. What this shows is that the bears are digging in their heels and either betting on the downside or hoping the market will go lower in order to buy in on the future upside.

What Goes Up?

When the facts change, you either change your mind or you go into denial, with Mad Money host Jim Cramer.

To Cramer, hate mail is the best indicator of the future direction of the market, and people so adamantly against the idea that the markets are moving upwards have missed something. For Cramer, this is the equivalent of saying “wait a second, there’s still a good chance that Villanova comes back and beats UNC and that the idea that you think it is ‘over’ is ridiculous.”

Cramer points out that a 20% move is a lifetime in this business and only the worst and most emotional investors and traders don’t understand that. he year’s been made for people who bought at the bottom after avoiding the sell-off, the year’s been made for the nimble, and the bears refuse to admit it.

So what’s the lesson here? In the words of the late, great economist John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do sir?” The facts have changed and if you were short or just sitting on the sidelines you either got crushed or you missed it, respectively.

At this point, if you’re bear, you need to be thinking, “game over,” not coming up with excuses and additional reasons for why things will go your way. They went the other way. It happened. Get over it, learn from it, and go forward.

Cramer’s advice? Stop betting on Villanova. They didn’t make the finals.

The bottom line: when the facts change, you either change your mind or you go into denial. Denial is easier, but it’s a whole lot less profitable.

Watch the videoto hear Cramer’s entire take on how to remain flexible and navigate in a changing market.